Going pink with the Mushroom Growers Association

Celebrations of food are an exciting enough occasion, but when you combine it with raising awareness for a for a valuable cause it becomes the perfect pairing. So a few weeks ago when we were invited to attend the Australian Mushroom Grower's Association's Pink Ribbon dinner as part of their activities in raising awareness for breast cancer, I jumped at the chance. Held at the Pavilion Restaurant at the West Coast Institute in Joondalup, we were treated to a series of mushroom dishes to really highlight this amazing product.

Arriving in time for canapés, Jeremy and I greeted fellow bloggers Chomp Chomp and Perth Munchkin and joined them in devouring the mushroom treats circulating. I started off with a swiss brown mushroom roulade garnished with micro herbs - it's soft, flavoursome and brings out the lovely earthiness of the mushrooms. The crostini with feta and garlicky mushroom was definitely my favourite of the two, the creaminess of the cheese acting as the perfect accompaniment to the fungi.

Once we sat down hings kicked off with Noelene Swain, the Australian Mushroom Growers Association State Promotions Coordinator. It was a really moving introduction which started us off on a great foot for the night. I love all things mushroom so I was already excited for what the trainees and team at Pavilion would come up with for our three course dinner. We took the lead up to dinner as a cue to purchase some tickets in their raffle where there were some great kitchen tools and ingredients up for grabs. We didn't win anything but I didn't mind since all the proceeds went to the Cancer Council.

The first course for dinner was a wild mushroom consumme, brimming with gluten free gnocchi, pickled shimeji mushrooms and tomato. It was a really interesting dish, with flavours I don't think I've had before. It was a light start and definitely screamed mushroom with every spoonful.

The main course for the evening was a slow cooked fillet of West Australian Butterfield beef. It's served with glazed shallots, fondant potatoes, white asparagus, baby carrot, cherry tomato and nameko mushrooms. The real star on the plate though is a fantastic and deeply flavoured Madeira jus which was perfectly executed. I really enjoyed this dish - the beef was lovely and pink in the centre, the meat tender and juicy. For me, this was the dish of the night.

While devouring our entrees and mains the speakers included Glenn Cardwell (an accredited dietician) and Greg Seymour (General Manager of the Australian Mushroom Growers Association). What they presented to us was quite interesting as it went on to discuss just how important mushrooms are as a staple in people's diets. There's actual studies taking place right now which are looking to prove the correlation between regular mushroom consumption and a decrease in cancer risk. What this could mean for us all is staggering! I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more in the future on this subject matter.

Greg Seymour also spoke a great deal about "blendability" which is the use of mushrooms blended in with meats. He spoke about the health benefits briefly, but the main focus was the economics and taste benefits - it definitely was interesting to hear that in the coming years, more and more goods like hamburger patties etc will have mushrooms mixed in. The thought of that makes me happy - I love the taste! 

We finish up our night with a trio of desserts. There's a vibrant scoop of zingy raspberry sorbet next to a rich dark chocolate tart which sat atop of a mushroom anglaise. Finally a mushroom meringue completed the dish. I have to admit I was very curious what mushroom would taste like in a dessert!

If I'm being completely honest I'm not so sure I was sold on this. The raspberry sorbet was deliciously refreshing with a candied mushroom to crunch on. My palate tends to only handle small doses of dark chocolate so I only ate about half of the tart before the boy happily volunteered to take over. The mushroom meringue was light and pretty as a picture. It's the mushroom anglaise that I felt a little confusion over. While initially the flavour was polarising, in some ways I enjoyed it. But I'm not so sure I'd order this again given the choice even as much as I love mushrooms. But it might just have been me because all around me, everyone was nodding their heads and saying how tasty it was. Goes to show how different everyone's tastebuds can be!

What a great night at Pavilion with the team and supporters of the Australian Mushroom Growers Association. I love events like this and it was made even more special by the training chefs getting to showcase their skills, versatility and creativity in making such an interesting and diverse meal to really highlight how special mushrooms are. It looks like when I chose this produce as one to become obsessed with (yes I really am obsessed), I picked the right one!